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Inec, NCS Lay Blueprint for e-Voting in 2011

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) and the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) have joined forces to computerize voting in Nigeria, which would give boost to democracy.

Both organizations had in November last year, held a retreat to brainstorm and fashion out an effective e-voting system that would allow for improved casting of vote and effective collation of election results, to put an end to unsavoury incidents witnessed in recent elections.

Prof. Charles Uwadia, president of NCS, who read the communiqué from the joint retreat between Inec and NCS, commended the electoral body for its commitment to improving the nation’s electoral process through ICT, which would by extension improve the well being of the citizens.

The retreat, he said, was held to examine the entire gamut of the electoral process and determine the role ICT can play, and then bring that to fruition.

Uwadia disclosed that at the end of the retreat, it was resolved that such problems as mass thumb printing of ballot papers, ballot stuffing, ballot box hijack, impersonation of voters, errors due to manual collation of results, multiple registration, among others associated with the current voting system; can be overcome with e-voting system.

According to him, “the retreat recognized that Inec has an existing communication backbone based on satellite communication technology, which network consists of a satellite gateway (control center), located at the Inec headquarters and terminals installed at remote locations (Inec state offices and all the local government areas of the federation).”

But he said some of the terminals at the remote locations had been vandalized, and so the retreat recommends the replacement of the redundant/inactive terminals with portable/mobile terminals and the deployment of additional terminals during periods of elections.

He said that it was recognized that the cost of the space segment on the network has huge financial implications, hence the retreat recommends that the electoral body should subscribe to the size of the space segment needed for its operational purposes during non-election years while the requirement should be scaled up during election year to meet the demands for the election results collation and dissemination.

Prof. Maurice Iwu, Inec chairman, represented by Engr. Emmanuel Akem, Inec’s director of ICT, reiterated that Inec and NCS’ partnership is geared towards harnessing the goods of ICT in the electoral process, adding that the Commission had done a lot in deploying ICT but needs to improve on what has been achieved.

The retreat recommends that Inec should explore the use of the GSM¬-Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and General Pack Radio Service (GPRS) technologies to complement the existing light weight encrypted secure file socket transmission for election result transmission and collation.

It also recommends that when the systems for e-collation and e-dissemination of election results are fully implemented, the election results in Nigeria should under normal circumstances be published within the period of six hours after closing election polls in every part of the country.

The retreat identified machine failure, vote flipping, possibility of inaccurate transmission of election results, usability problems, as challenges associated with electronic voting system; while noting that these can be overcome with contemporary technologies.

It noted that electronic voting system offers the best available option to prevent election manipulation and to assure the integrity and sanctity of each vote that is cast, thereby recommending a system based on consensus protocol which will allow for three confirmatory evidences/witnesses/channels for each vote cast.

While recommending the distributed encryption technique for purposes of secured data transmission, the retreat re-emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive and accurate registered voters’ database – a critical national asset which must be well secured to provide the necessary platform for a reliable electoral system. This, the Inec needs to do in partnership with other relevant government agencies such as the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Nigerian Immigration Service, among others.

The retreat observed that the level of skilled IT professionals in Inec needs to be enhanced through continuous training, and that Management and personnel of the Commission need requisite technology training to ensure smooth electoral process.

It recognized the need for Inec to strategically embark on programmes aimed at ensuring that the electorate and the entire public believe in its systems, processes and procedures.

The retreat, according to Prof. Uwadia, recommends that any e-voting machine that Inec might consider for deployment for the electoral process in Nigeria must possess the ability to capture at least 3-forms of confirmatory evidence for each vote cast, interface for real-time/wireless transmission of data, facility for accurate authentication of voters’ information, facility that allows the blind and visually impaired to cast votes unassisted.

Others include that the equipment battery life must last for a minimum of ten hours, must be fool-proof, tamper-proof and weather-proof to perform under any condition, have provision for verifiable audit trail; have provision that allows voters to confirm that their votes have been recorded as cast, voice prompt that could be customized in any Nigerian dialect, provision for automatic and periodic uploading of election results while voting is in progress.

Asked if the country is going to witness proper e-voting in the 2011 presidential elections, Engr. Akem said that would depend on how soon the resolutions at the retreat would be implemented, while stressing on the need for the amendment of the Evidence Act by the National Assembly to accommodate e-voting

 

 

 


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FG Unveils AI Public Services Platform

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Federal government has launched GovGuideNigeria, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered digital platform designed to streamline access to public service information through WhatsApp and the web.

The platform consolidates information from more than 35 federal ministries and over 60 government agencies, marking a significant step in Nigeria’s drive to expand AI-enabled public infrastructure and digital government services.

According to Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s minister of communications, innovation and digital economy, the initiative aims to simplify interactions with government services, particularly for underserved communities that often face challenges navigating complex public-sector systems.

Developed in collaboration with the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Meta, and Publica AI, GovGuideNigeria uses conversational AI to provide real-time responses via WhatsApp and a web interface in English, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.

Sade Dada, head of public policy at Meta, said the multilingual rollout highlights the growing use of natural language processing within African public institutions to improve digital inclusion and broaden access to services.

Ignatius Willie, chief executive of Publica AI, said the platform demonstrates how Africa’s next generation of digital public infrastructure can be developed locally using African languages.

GovGuideNigeria is intended to address longstanding challenges in Nigeria’s public information system, where citizens often struggle to access reliable guidance because of fragmented government websites, poor communication channels and the expense of travelling to physical offices.

Through AI-driven automation, users can obtain information on immigration procedures, documentation requirements, public programmes and agency-specific services through chat-based interactions.

The launch also reflects Nigeria’s broader ambition to integrate AI into digital governance, while strengthening partnerships between government agencies, global technology companies and local AI startups to modernise public service delivery.


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Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

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Elon Musk is poised to become the world’s first trillionaire after  SpaceX, his company, confirmed plans to go public.

Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

Elon Musk

Because Musk owns the majority of the shares, it could push his net worth over the trillion dollar mark.

The entrepreneur is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X, and xAI.

Musk has been the wealthiest person in the world since 2025; as of May 2026, Forbes estimates his net worth to be $788 billion.

SpaceX has filed for a blockbuster public listing in the United States, paving the way for what could become the largest stock market debut in Wall Street history.

The company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, announced plans to begin trading under the ticker symbol “SPCX” as early as next month.

The listing values SpaceX at about $1.25 trillion, with Musk’s majority ownership potentially worth more than $600 billion alone.

Combined with his existing holdings in companies including Tesla, the IPO could push Musk’s personal wealth above the $1 trillion mark.

The long-awaited filing also offered investors a rare look into SpaceX’s finances.

The company reported $18.6 billion in revenue last year but recorded a net loss of $4.9 billion. In the first quarter of this year, SpaceX generated $4.7 billion in sales while posting a $4.3 billion net loss.

Financial disclosures showed the company holds $102 billion in assets, including rockets, launch infrastructure and satellite systems, while carrying debts totalling $60.5 billion.

Despite the losses, analysts suggested investors were unlikely to be deterred given SpaceX’s dominance in commercial space launches and satellite internet services.

Ruth Foxe-Blader, managing partner at Citrine Venture Partners, described the planned flotation as “extremely exciting.”

“SpaceX is just an absolutely sprawling, enormous project with so many different selling points, and so many points that really point to the future,” she said.

SpaceX operates the Starlink satellite internet network and also owns Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI.

The IPO filing revealed that xAI recently reached a major commercial agreement with rival AI company Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot.

Under the arrangement, Anthropic will reportedly pay $15 billion annually to access data centre infrastructure linked to xAI operations in the American South.

The filing also disclosed that SpaceX expects to incur more than half a billion dollars in legal costs from multiple ongoing lawsuits and regulatory disputes.

Among the cases listed were claims alleging that xAI’s chatbot Grok had been used to create sexualised deepfakes of women and girls, alongside patent infringement disputes, music copyright claims, data breach allegations and investigations into compliance with European Union content moderation rules.

Musk has previously said he plans to dissolve xAI as a standalone company and pursue his AI ambitions directly under SpaceX.

The filing came shortly after Musk lost a high-profile legal battle against OpenAI and its chief executive Sam Altman.

Musk had accused OpenAI of abandoning its non-profit mission after shifting towards a commercial model, but a jury dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that he had waited too long to bring the claims.


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Moniepoint Boosts UK Payments Security

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African financial services platform Moniepoint has partnered with open banking software-as-a-service provider tell.money to deploy a transaction security system in the UK market.

The companies said the partnership will allow Moniepoint to implement Confirmation of Payee, an account name-checking service designed to verify recipient details before payments are processed.

The integration will be rolled out through Monieworld, Moniepoint’s UK remittance subsidiary, as part of the company’s broader European expansion strategy.

Tell.money will provide the underlying verification technology, which the companies said is intended to reduce misdirected payments and help protect users against cross-border fraud.

Ravi Jakhodia, CEO of Monieworld, said: “Our goal with Monieworld is to build financial services for Africans in the diaspora.”

He added that tell.money was selected because it manages compliance and accreditation requirements, allowing the fintech company to focus on customer service.

Moniepoint is entering a competitive UK-to-Africa remittance market that includes established providers such as Wise, WorldRemit and Remitly, as well as African fintech firms including Flutterwave’s Send App.

According to data from the World Bank’s KNOMAD programme, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are estimated at about $620 billion annually, with digital -first platforms capturing increasing market share through open banking integrations and automated compliance systems.

The rollout reflects a broader trend of African fintech firms expanding into developed markets by adopting local regulatory and open banking standards.

Industry analysts expect diaspora-focused platforms to evolve beyond money transfers into services such as multi-currency banking, credit and investment products.


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